{"id":59106,"date":"2016-01-16T07:00:10","date_gmt":"2016-01-16T14:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/?p=59106"},"modified":"2016-01-16T14:49:11","modified_gmt":"2016-01-16T21:49:11","slug":"making-everything-new","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/2016\/01\/16\/making-everything-new\/","title":{"rendered":"Making everything new"},"content":{"rendered":"

The other day I was at the pub discussing theology with one of my friends. During our discussion, I referred to “the New Exodus”<\/span>,\u00a0a phrase which he hadn’t heard before. I can’t say for sure, but I think I first heard it used by\u00a0either Brant Pitre<\/a> or Scott Hahn<\/a>…someone like that…<\/p>\n

Actually, if you listen to other theologians at the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology<\/a>, you’ll hear them use the word “new” an awful lot. They speak about\u00a0the New Moses, New Manna, New Solomon, New Temple… In light of this, today I would like to give a brief overview of this way of viewing\u00a0Scripture, with particular reference to the New Exodus. Understanding this perspective on Scripture can be really helpful, particularly in seeing the overarching unity of Scripture in\u00a0the Old and New Testaments.<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

Exodus 1.0<\/h2>\n

To speak of a\u00a0“New”\u00a0Exodus implies that there was one which took place earlier, so before we start talking about the New Exodus, let’s re-familiarize ourselves with the events of this original Exodus in order to see the parallels with the new.<\/p>\n

The original Exodus is described in the book of the Bible which bears\u00a0that name, Exodus. After the Patriarch Joseph brought his father (Jacob\/Israel) and family to Egypt, they experienced\u00a0a period of prosperity, but the Egyptians soon came to see the Israelites as a threat and the Pharaoh enslaved<\/strong> the Israelites.<\/p>\n

God’s people were\u00a0in trouble and in need of a saviour<\/strong>.\u00a0It was at this point that God called Moses<\/strong> to help free the Children of Israel. After several confrontations with Pharaoh\u00a0(the Ten Plagues etc), the Egyptian King\u00a0finally yields and agrees to set the Israelites free. Unfortunately, he later reneges on his promise and, together with his soldiers, sets out in pursuit. The Israelites have their backs against the Red Sea and all looks lost, but Moses parts the waters<\/strong>, allowing them\u00a0to\u00a0escape. The Egyptians follow but are\u00a0drowned<\/strong> as the waters returns to their\u00a0normal course.<\/p>\n

Now safe, the Israelites journey\u00a0to\u00a0Sinai to receive the Law<\/strong> in the Ten Commandments. They later come to the very threshold of the Promised Land, but due their repeated sin and disobedience, they then spend the next forty years<\/strong> wandering through the desert<\/strong>. Although deprived of a homeland, God\u00a0continues to look after His people, feeding them with the manna, the bread from Heaven<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

As they once again stand on the threshold of the Holy Land, Moses dies.\u00a0It now falls to Joshua<\/strong> to lead the\u00a0people into the Promised Land. He\u00a0sends the Ark of the Covenant<\/strong> into the Jordan<\/strong> and, as the priests descend into the water,\u00a0it once more\u00a0parts as it did years before at the\u00a0Red Sea. Having finally entered the Promised Land, the Israelites begin to re-conquer, led once again by the Ark of the Covenant.<\/p>\n

The Fall and The Promise<\/h2>\n

Things go well, at least\u00a0for a little while. With the land conquered and the borders secured, the Jerusalem Temple<\/strong>\u00a0is constructed by Solomon<\/strong> with even Gentiles<\/strong> coming there to worship the God of Israel.<\/p>\n

However, after the death of\u00a0Solomon, the Kingdom split<\/strong> into two. Both of these Kingdoms are eventually\u00a0conquered and the people carried off into exile. The Northern tribes never return but\u00a0the southern ones\u00a0eventually return and rebuild. Unfortunately, by the First Century it had come\u00a0under Roman\u00a0occupation.<\/p>\n

During these difficult years, the prophets repeatedly reminded the people of the Exodus from Egypt, since it was not only the event which originally formed them as a nation, but it was also a reminder of God’s fidelity and saving help:<\/p>\n

“However, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when it will no longer be said, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt<\/strong>,’ but it will be said, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them<\/strong>,’ For I will restore them to the land I gave their ancestors<\/em> <\/span><\/p>\n

– Jeremiah 16:14-15<\/span><\/p>\n

God was effectively telling them: You think the Exodus from Egypt was amazing? You haven’t seen anything yet…<\/p>\n

One figure who became closely associated with the New Exodus was Elijah<\/strong>. Dressed in\u00a0“a garment of haircloth, with a girdle of leather about his loins”<\/span><\/em>\u00a0he called the people to repentance and through his preaching came into direct conflict with King<\/strong> Ahab and Jezebel his\u00a0wife.<\/p>\n

In the same way that the original Exodus led the Israelites out of Egyptian slavery, many thought that the New Exodus and the coming of the Messiah would result in their liberation from the yoke of Roman oppression.\u00a0Ultimately, the New Exodus did come, but not in the way that the people expected…<\/p>\n

Exodus 2.0<\/h2>\n

The time finally came. A\u00a0figure appeared in the wilderness, dressed like Elijah<\/strong>. The man was\u00a0John the Baptist.<\/strong>\u00a0Like Elijah, called the people to repentance and also got into trouble with the so-called King (Herod).<\/p>\n

Jesus then comes to the Jordan to be baptized by John. As\u00a0the Lord enters the waters of the Jordan<\/strong>\u00a0the waters do not part, but the glory of the Trinity is revealed. After passing through the waters he heads to the desert for\u00a0forty<\/strong> days where he is tested and, unlike the Israelites\u00a0in the desert, He later emerges victorious.<\/p>\n

The Lord starts\u00a0His earthly ministry and the liberation<\/strong> begins. Jesus becomes a New Moses<\/strong>, but this time it is not a liberation from an earthly power such as\u00a0Pharaoh<\/b>, but from sin and death. Jesus becomes a New Joshua<\/strong>, reclaiming what had once been lost and conquering Satan and the enemies of darkness.\u00a0Whereas Moses<\/strong>\u00a0ascended Mount Sinai and delivered the\u00a0Ten Commandments<\/strong>, Christ ascends the Mount of Beatitudes and gives the New Law<\/strong>. As the\u00a0Kingdom<\/strong>‘s restoration gets underway, once more\u00a0Gentiles<\/strong> come to worship the God of Israel. They join the People of God through the waters<\/strong> of baptism which destroys not Egyptian might, but the power of\u00a0sin. After this washing they are granted the privilege to eat the New bread from Heaven<\/strong>, the Eucharist, the flesh of Christ.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/h2>\n

Hopefully this post\u00a0has shown the beauty of viewing Scripture in this way, seeing the parallels between the Old and New Testaments since, as St. Augustine rightly wrote,\u00a0“the New Testament lies hidden in the Old and the Old Testament is unveiled in the New”.<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The other day I was at the pub discussing theology with one of my friends. During our discussion, I referred to “the New Exodus”,\u00a0a phrase which he hadn’t heard before. I can’t say for sure, but I think I first heard it used by\u00a0either Brant Pitre or Scott Hahn…someone like that… Actually, if you listen to other theologians at the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60391,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[1218,594,2969,518,595,3402,143],"class_list":["post-59106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faith","tag-elijah","tag-exodus","tag-featured","tag-joshua","tag-moses","tag-new-exodus","tag-st-augustine"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/FeaturedExodus.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59106"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59106\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60291,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59106\/revisions\/60291"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}